Apollo Minerals Limited has announced its maiden drilling campaign is now underway at the prospective Kroussou zinc-lead project in Gabon.
The Kroussou Project comprises the Prospecting License G4-569 which covers 986.5 square kilometres in the Ngounié Province of Western Gabon located approximately 220 kilometres southeast of the capital city of Libreville.
The current Phase 1 diamond drill program, which comprises approximately 30 holes for 1,000 metres of diamond drilling, is focused at the high-grade Dikaki Prospect and will also aim to test high-grade rock chips and soils at Bouambo East.
This initial program is expected to be completed by May 2021 with results expected to be received by June 2021.
The Phase 1 drill program will test previously identified high-grade trends and the open extensions to these shallow zones of mineralisation.
The program will also test historical BRGM holes which were only character sampled historically (i.e. only select visually identifiable intervals were sampled, often ending in significant mineralisation).
For the program, the company has established a central exploration camp at Bouambo near the Dikaki Prospect (Figure 1).
The Dikaki Prospect shows strong potential to host significant, shallow zinc-lead (Zn-Pb) mineralisation with previous drill intercepts including (refer ASX announcement dated 3 September 2019):
- 9 metres (m) at 20.8 per cent Zn+Pb from 1.4m
- 1m at 15.2 per cent Zn+Pb from 8.1m
- 2m at 7.7 per cent Zn+Pb from 13.6m
- 5m at 6.2 per cent Zn+Pb from 3.9m
- 1m at 6.1 per cent Zn+Pb from 0.7m incl. 6.0m at 10.0 per cent Zn+Pb from 1.0m
- 4m at 5.2 per cent Zn+Pb from 8.9m
- 7m at 4.6 per cent Zn+Pb from 25.1m incl. 3.5m at 9.8 per cent Zn+Pb from 34.3m
- 0m at 4.3 per cent Zn+Pb from 11.6m
- 8m at 4.2 per cent Zn+Pb from 2.4m incl. 4.7m at 9.7 per cent Zn+Pb from 13.6m
- 0m at 3.4 per cent Zn+Pb from 32.0m incl. 5.2m at 8.1 per cent Zn+Pb from 39.4m
- 7m at 3.4 per cent Zn+Pb from 2.0m incl. 2.8m at 24.5 per cent Zn+Pb from 7.7m
- 1m at 2.3 per cent Zn+Pb from 2.3m incl. 1.3m at 9.4 per cent Zn+Pb from 11.0m and 12.5m at 4.5 per cent Zn+Pb from 14.5m
- 0m at 2.2 per cent Zn+Pb from 11.0m incl. 9.0m at 4.5 per cent Zn+Pb from 37.0m
Apollo Mineral’s Executive Director, Neil Inwood, said it is an exciting time for the company as the drilling program commences.
“The Phase 1 drill program is expected to support the broader scale drilling and surface exploration programs planned at the Kroussou Project for 2021. The project hosts numerous untested targets across eighteen separate prospects over more than 80 kilometres of strike. To date only four of these prospects have been drill tested, with all four intersecting zinc-lead mineralisation at shallow depths.”
Future exploration plan
The Phase 1 drilling program is focused on further defining the extents of shallow (potentially open-pittable), high-grade Zn-Pb mineralisation at the Dikaki Prospect.
The company has designed an exploration work plan for the Kroussou Project which includes:
- Selection and mobilisation of track-mounted exploration rigs suitable for aggressive drill testing over multiple prospects and capable of a +10,000 metre exploration program. This phase 2 drilling program is expected to include infill and extensional drilling within the Dikaki region and initial drill testing of other priority targets such as the highly prospective Niamabimbou Prospect (approximately 13 kilometres south of Dikaki);
- Preparation of track access to new prospects leading into the dry season commencing in June;
- Identification of new target regions along the +80 kilometre strike length of prospective geology, including at Niambokamba (approximately 6 kilometres north of Dikaki) and in at the Yombi-Ofoibou region (approximately 32 kilometres south of Dikaki);
- Surface exploration programs including geological mapping, rock chip and soil sampling to further assess identified prospects and to generate new targets within the broader project area;
- Ranking and prioritisation of exploration targets across the project area based on incoming exploration data;
- Review of existing geophysics and assess additional methods to refine identified prospects and generate new targets;
- Metallurgical test work overall prospective targets to assess recovery characteristics, concentrate quality, and variability;
- Estimation and reporting of a Mineral Resource in accordance with the JORC Code; and
- Commencement of feasibility studies seeking to exploit near-surface mineable Zn-Pb mineralisation.
